Packaging food items in containers has long been a convenient, and useful method of preserving perishable edibles. Canning was revolutionized in 1858 when John Landis Mason invented a practical glass jar and lid, commonly referred to as a Mason jar. Since then, many companies have used glass and plastic containers to store jams, vegetables, meats, condiments, and fruits.
The preferred method for preserving food products in containers is to vacuum seal or hot-pack the food in the container. In these processes, precooked, hot food and a portion of the liquid in which it was cooked are placed in a clean, hot jar. With the hot-pack method, the mouth of the jar is covered with a metal disk that includes a rubber ring seal. A screw-type lid is then partially screwed onto the finish of the glass jar. After the jar has been processed in boiling water for a desired amount of time, the screw top is tightened completely to create a fluid tight seal between the rubber ring seal of the metal disk and the jar. Heat and pressure during processing force most of the air from the jar, thereby minimizing the promulgation of disease-causing organisms within the jar. Supermarket shelves are laden with food items offered in glass or plastic containers adapted to preserve the freshness of the contents therein through vacuum sealing or the hot-pack method.
However, accessing the contents at the bottom of the container may be challenging and messy. As more processed foods are being offered in larger, economy size containers to appeal to families, accessing the contents at the bottom thereof has become exceedingly challenging and messy. Attempts to retrieve the food from the bottom of a container often result in a utensil handle and the hand of the user covered with food residue. Unable to easily retrieve the food from the bottom of the container, many users discard the container, thereby wasting any remaining food.
Despite the containers known in the art, there is a continuing need for an improved container adapted to force the contents of the container upwardly towards a top thereof and to effect the removal of the contents at the bottom thereof.